Help fix my heating – 2 out of 7 radiators stone cold, other 5 piping hot

We’ve just purchased and moved into a new house. First child expected in 6.5weeks so I could do with making sure the heating is all working nicely.

We have 7 radiators and 2 flat ladder towel radiators in the house.

4 radiators + 1 flat ladder towel radiator downstairs

3 rads + 1 ladder upstairs.

I’ve bled all the radiators and made sure all the valves are open (no thermostats on radiators).

The two biggest radiators (lounge and hallway) are stone cold and as a result the house isn’t that warm and we’re topping up the lounge with an electric oil filled heater. There’s no heat at the top or bottom and the pipes at each end are also stone cold.

All other radiators and the two ladders are piping hot (except a pretty old looking radiator in our bedroom which gets warm but not scolding hot like the others).

Where do I start? If it is stuck valves or there was a build up of sludge in the rads I’d still of expected one of the pipes at the end of the rad to have some heat, but they don’t (is this correct?).

I can spanner a bit, so I’m happy to have a go as I don’t think I’m going to make it any worse before having to call in a plumber.

Anyone any ideas?

Air. Turn off all valves of the hot radiators and leave the 2 cold ones open for a bit, should flush it through.

Are the cold radiators controlled by a separate motorised valve? If so check it is opening when it should. You may be able to manually open it.

air block is my guess stopping the heat passing through but pressurising the water so you can bleed

You may find a loop at the lowest point of your system is just trapped with air and this needs bleeding to allow the hot water to reach the rads

Not sure of the fix though- try tracing heat on the hot pipe till you find the cold low bit – should be a bleed valve

We’ve had the same thing happen, but ours was an upstairs / downstairs split. Upsatirs hot, downstairs cold. Neighbour, who is a plumber, is currently in sorting with a powerflush

bleed the rads that are cold

Sympathy. Half of my house has no heating and the power flush didn’t help. Currently awaiting floorboards being lifted and microbore being replaced as there has to be a blockage in the pipework. Also in a very hard water area.

A worry for you all. 🙁

Are the cold radiators controlled by a separate motorised valve?

Not sure, but wouldn’t have thought so. It looks like quite an antiquated system in an old terraced house.

bleed the rads that are cold

Not sure why you wasted your time writing that and I wasted mine reading/typing this.

Air. Turn off all valves of the hot radiators and leave the 2 cold ones open for a bit, should flush it through.

Looks like a starting point. Thanks.

try tracing heat on the hot pipe till you find the cold low bit – should be a bleed valve

Another good idea…I’ll borrow my nephew and lower him through the floor board traps 🙂

and the power flush didn’t help

Mmmm 🙁

Google valve balancing. If these two are furthest from the boiler and you’ve bled them you may have to balance the system .

Google valve balancing. If these two are furthest from the boiler and you’ve bled them you may have to balance the system .

Thanks, yes these two and the cooler bedroom one I mentioned are the furthest from the boiler.

I’ll take a look.

Doosuk – mail me and I’ll send you some notes I produced for the NHBC regarding balancing as I got feed up explaining it to individual inspectors!
timATj-twren.eclipse.co.uk

Cinnamon – surprise surprise power flush not worked, massively over sold operation that is usually carried out poorly.

Get someone to physically remove the affected radiators and flush with a hose, while sloshing water through them if possible.

Worth trying before lifting floors etc.

Thanks to those who pointed me in the direction of valve balancing and thanks to Bear for providing his notes.

Heat is restored to all radiators now and the house is pretty toasty.

Had less luck with the house alarm, but managed to shut it up after 1.5hrs of it constantly going off on Saturday afternoon. Neighbours must of been so happy 🙂 All sorted and restored to full working order now too though.

Any chance of somebody sending me those notes on valve balancing. email in profile.

MSP – I’ve sent them through as I’m sure Bear won’t mind.

No problem, glad they helped.

Be interested on any feed back those that have had them.

timATj-twren.eclipse.co.uk

have a similar issue, can you send me those notes Bear, email in profile, appreciate that.

Is it house moving week on STW? first night in new house last night & similar problems here too 🙁 any chance of those notes, email in profile thanks. 🙂

Really appreciate those notes as well, email in profile.
Google results always seem complicated!
Thanks,

Oooh valve balancing notes, please could I have them too. 3 storey victorian house with varying degrees of radiator warmth is causing me a few headaches. Email in profile, very much appreciated

@ Bear, would be interested in the notes.
crofts2007ATaolDOTcom
Have attempted to balance my system, (S plus system) with reasonable results but have 9 rads on downstairs zone and 8 rads on upstairs zone, most with TRV’s and independent wireless stats on each zone.
Do I do the balancing with everything on or each zone separately?
With or without the DHW on as well?
(Goes to lie down in dark room.)

You’ve started something here. Me too, please (-:

Please may I have a copy, I have to do this.

Pleeease me too 🙂

At work will mail them tonight. If you all mail me I’ll attach them by return.

Bear – I’ve just emailed everyone above to save you a job tonight…I just sit at a desk all day, so much easier for me no doubt 🙂

dooosuk could you send them to me please?

alastairhaigh at gmail dot com

Thanks!

Another one for the valve balancing notes please if you don’t mind. I’ve had rubbish heating all winter after moving into a new house just before xmas. Can’t wait for summer……..
adamb7 at yahoo dot com
Cheers 😀

and another one here please?

eastham8 at aol dot com

cheers
in advance

chucky

If anyone can spare the time, me too please!

i.s.penton-voak AT bristol DOT ac DOT uk

Me too! (Sorry) mail in profile 🙂

Sent to all the above requesters.

late to the party i know 😳 but i’d like a copy too please.

thanks.

t DOT bostock AT hotmail DOT co DOT uk

thomthumb – done

Cheers Andy

I bet there will be a lot of balancing going on tonight!

It’s very simple and doesn’t take a long time. Good luck!

Another unbalanced person here, could you pass the notes on to me too please? 🙂

verses AT verses.free-online.co.uk

Cheers for the info, appreciated. I didn’t want it directly for myself so much as it being useful info to have stored in my head.

However. From the document, “One pipe systems are fairly rare and generally only found in older properties.” That would be what I have. Any tips for that (other than ‘have it taken out and shot’)?

verses – email sent

alibongo001 – Member

Cheers Andy

I bet there will be a lot of balancing going on tonight!

I bet there will be a lot of half-done, even-less-balanced heating systems out there 😉

It can take a few iterations to get it right if the system is large, tortuous and very un-balanced.

Before balancing, get your system nice and clean, check that your pump is pumping properly (not just spinning) and give all of your TRVs a bit of a checking over for movement and freeing-up if necessary.

I nominally balanced ours on heating order, then on temperature drop and did tweak it a bit after a few days, with a bit of further tweaking to suit requirements later on.